What do you mean by the term Epistemology

Epistemology is under the "French philosophical tradition, a branch of philosophy of science that" critically examines the scientific method, logical forms and modes of inference used in science, as well as the principles, basic concepts, theories and results of various sciences, and this, in order to determine their logical origin, their value and scope objective "[1]. In the philosophical tradition Anglo-Saxon epistemology would be confused with the theory of knowledge, and would not therefore not specifically about the science. Sometimes, however, that this term is used synonymously with "Philosophy of Science" [2]. The distinction between these different meanings, including the report of epistemology to the philosophy of science, is not clearly established [3]. On the other hand, the epistemology Model: Continental may also treat non-scientific objects [4]. The word is also sometimes used to refer to any particular theory of knowledge. The difference between these two traditions will focus on the attention to scientific knowledge rather than general knowledge.

Jean Piaget [5] proposed to define the overused as a first approximation as the study of the formation of valuable knowledge, "a name which, according to Jean-Louis Le Moigne, will ask three main questions:

* What knowledge (the epistemological question)?
* How is it made or created (the methodological question)?
* How to assess its value or validity?

The epistemological investigation and may involve several aspects: the modes of knowledge production, the foundations of this knowledge, the dynamics of this production. Several questions arise: what is a knowledge? How is it produced? How is it validated? On what basis does she? How knowledge is organized? How are they (and particularly, with success?)?

In addition sometimes a normative dimension of analysis. It is no longer just describe the knowledge, but to define what constitutes a "good" knowledge.

Finally, we must distinguish between a general epistemology, which implicitly carries the idea of a unity of science, epistemology particular, based on the idea of multiple, sometimes presented as irreducible, the various sciences. This is called epistemology of physics, biology, humanities,